Releasing and retaining resources for use in a nfv environment

ABSTRACT

A virtual network function (VNF) management system includes a computer-executable set of instructions to deploy a VNF using one or more resources allocated for use by the VNF in which the one or more resources are allocated by communicating with a resource manager that manages the one or more resources. The system then receives a request from a user interface to un-deploy the VNF, and un-deploys the VNF while keeping the resources allocated for use by the VNF. At a later time, the system can then receive a request to restore the VNF from the user interface, and deploy the VNF again using the allocated resources.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosure relates generally to computer networking tools, and more particularly to a system and method for releasing and retaining resources in a network functions virtualization environment.

BACKGROUND

Due to recent network focused advancements in computing hardware, services that were previously only capable of being delivered by proprietary, application-specific hardware can now be provided using software running on computing hardware by utilizing virtualization techniques that run on high-volume server, switch, and storage computing hardware to virtualize network functions. By leveraging virtualization technology to consolidate different types of network equipment onto the computing hardware, switches, storage, and network functions, such as network address translation (NAT), firewalling, intrusion detection, domain name service (DNS), load balancing, caching, and the like can be decoupled from computing hardware and can instead be run as software. This virtualization of network functions on commodity hardware is sometimes referred to as Network Functions Virtualization (NFV).

Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) refers to a technology that is used to design a network structure with industry standard servers, switches, and storage that are provided as devices at a user end. That is, the NFV technology implements network functions as software that can be run in existing industry standard servers and hardware. NFV technology may also be supported by a cloud computing technology and in some cases, may also utilize various industry-standard high volume server technologies.

In an effort to develop a fully virtualized infrastructure, leading service providers have collaborated together to create the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) Industry Specification Group (ISG) for Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) working group. This group has helped create the architecture and associated requirements for virtualizing various functions within telecommunications networks. Benefits of NFV include reduced capital expenditure (e.g., by reducing the need to purchase purpose-built hardware), operating expenditure (e.g., by reducing space, power, and cooling requirements), reduced time-to-market (e.g., accelerated deployment), improved flexibility to address constantly changing demands, and the like.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The disclosure will be readily understood by the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example network functions virtualization (NFV) environment in which a virtual network function (VNF) management system for releasing and retaining cloud resources may be embodied.

FIG. 2 illustrates a call flow diagram showing how the system deploys a VNF in the NFV environment according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example call flow diagram that may be performed by the system according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate an example main user interface screen and a VNF management user interface screen, respectively, that may be generated on the client computing device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 illustrates the basic computing components of a computing device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS Overview

Disclosed are systems, methods and computer-readable devices related to a virtual network function (VNF) service that, when a VNF is un-deployed with the intention of changing or tuning some configuration and instantiating it again, the underlying resources used to support that VNF are not released to be used by other VNFs. Many scenarios exist where the VNF needs to be un-deployed (e.g., brought down) to fix or change a configuration mistake that was done while instantiating the VNF. Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a system, method, and computer-readable instructions to maintain the resources in a dedicated condition in relation to the VNF so that, after the VNF has been un-deployed, the VNF may again be re-deployed on those dedicated resources.

Additional systems, methods and computer-readable devices provide a user interface that displays existing VNFs and a means to un-deploy the VNF instances. When users are finished reconfiguring and making changes to the VNF, they can reinstate the VNF. While un-deployed, the NFV orchestration framework does not release the resources, such as central processing units (CPUs), memory, disk space, and the like, back to the cloud. Additionally, the user interface provides means for releasing the resources back to the cloud in the event that the VNF is no longer needed or desired.

Description

FIG. 1 illustrates an example network functions virtualization (NFV) environment 100 in which a virtual network function (VNF) management system 102 for releasing and retaining cloud resources may be embodied. The system 102 includes a NFV orchestrator 104 that communicates with a client computing device 106 to configure and deploy a VNF 108 on one or more resources 114 in the NFV environment 100. According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the NFV orchestrator 104 provides a technique for, when a previously deployed VNF 108 is to be temporarily un-deployed for some reason, such as to fix a configuration mistake in the VNF 108, the resources 114 used to support the VNF 108 are maintained in a dedicated condition in relation to the VNF 108 so that the VNF 108 may again be deployed on those same resources. In additional embodiments, the system 102 also provides a user interface 110 for displaying the VNF 108 in a deployed or an un-deployed condition, receiving user input to re-deploy the VNF 108, and/or un-deploy the underlying resources when use of the VNF 108 is no longer needed or desired.

In general, VNFs 108 configured in a NFV environment are typically deployed using a technique as specified according to a specification, such as the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) Industry Specification Group (ISG) for Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) working group. The ETSI/ISG/NFV specification specifies a certain sequence of operations that should be performed so that, among other things, the resulting VNFs 108 function properly in a consistent manner, and that the resources used to support those functions have ample performance capabilities. Additionally, when the VNF 108 is un-deployed, the specification specifies certain other operations that should be performed so that the VNF 108 is properly un-deployed, and that the resources allocated to the VNF 108 is given back to a resource pool so that those resources may be used by other VNFs.

In some cases, it would be beneficial to temporarily un-deploy the VNF 108. For example, the VNF 108 may have been deployed using a port assignment that is incompatible with another VNF 108, such as via a static Internet protocol (IP) address, or a target IP address/port for a remote destination that is mis-configured during deployment of the VNF 108. To fix these problems, the VNF 108 could un-deployed and re-deployed; however, conventional techniques for deploying VNFs 108, such as those promulgated by the ETSI/ISG/NFV specification, specifies that the underlying resources are also de-allocated when the VNF 108 is un-deployed, thus releasing the resources 114 back to a common pool to be used by other VNFs 108.

Although de-allocating the underlying resources used to support a VNF may appear to provide an adequate solution, it may engender other problems. For example, the physical location of the allocated resources 114 may be proximate to and/or have similar performance characteristics to other resources 114 used to support another VNF 108 that is to be used with the subject VNF 108. Thus, in this case, it would be beneficial to keep those resources 114 dedicated for use with the VNF 108 so that, when the VNF 108 is temporarily un-deployed, those resources 114 may again be used for supporting the VNF 108 in the NFV environment. Additionally, de-allocation and re-allocation of the underlying resources can be a time consuming task that often is an inefficient and cumbersome endeavor.

Certain embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution to this problem by providing a system that allows a VNF 108 to be un-deployed and re-deployed using a technique that maintains the underlying resources used to support the VNF 108 in a dedicated state relative to the VNF 108. Thus, a VNF 108 can be un-deployed and re-deployed to leverage the advantages of any initialization processes configured for that VNF 108, while ensuring that the underlying resources remain available to support that VNF 108 when it is re-deployed.

The resources 114 on which the VNF 108 may be deployed may be embodied on any suitable computing architecture having multiple resources 114 for supporting the VNF 108. For example, the NFV environment 100 may include a unified computing system, a fabric-based computing system, a dynamic infrastructure, and/or a combination thereof. In a particular example, the NFV environment 100 may include a virtualized computing environment having one or more physical resources 114 a that execute one or more virtual machine (VM) resources 114 b. It should be understood that the NFV environment 100 may include other components, such as gateways for secure management of data used by the VNF 108, communication nodes for communication among multiple computing systems, and/or other devices that support the overall operation of the NFV environment 100.

The NFV environment 100 may involve multiple computing components pre-integrated into an optimized computing solution. The computing components of the NFV environment 100 may include servers, data storage components, networking equipment and software for managing the integrated components. To assist in the scalability, management and sharing of resources, particularly in large computing system environments, the NFV environment 100 may include a pool of server, storage and networking resources, typically virtualized, that can be shared by multiple VNFs 108.

Example hardware resources 114 a of the NFV environment 100 may include any type of hardware that provides physical resources for the virtual computing environment, while the virtual resources 114 b include logical entities, such as virtual machines, virtual switches, virtual storage units, containers, and other forms of partitioning constructs. Virtual resources 114 b may also include logical configuration constructs, such as storage partitions, port groups, virtual private clouds, virtual local area networks (LANs), private virtual data centers (PVDCs), that may be individually allocated to one or more VNFs. These hardware resources 114 a and virtual resources 114 b function in a collaborative manner to support the VNFs 108.

The resources 114 of the NFV environment 100 may be managed by a resource manager 116. Generally speaking, the resource manager 116 communicates with the physical resources 114 a and virtual resources 114 b (e.g., VMs) of the NFV environment 100 to manipulate the operation of the resources 114, as well as obtain status information, and report the status information to a user. In some embodiments, the resource manager 116 may function according to an OpenStack™ software platform. For an example in which the NFV environment 100 includes a virtualized computing environment, the compute resources may be managed by an element management application 106, such as a Unified Compute System Management (UCSM) application that is available from Cisco Systems.

The VNF manager 118 may include any type that manages the operation of the VNF 108, and communicates with the NFV orchestrator 104 for deploying the VNF 108 on the resources 114 of the NFV environment 100 through an VNF element manager 120. In some embodiments, the VNF manager 118 functions according to an operational support system (OSS) that manages various operations of the VNF 108 as well as other VNF related devices in the NFV environment 100. The VNF element manager 120 may be included to, among other things, provide network configuration of each or a combination of VNFs 108, network inventory of VNFs 108 in the NFV environment 100, network configuration of VNFs in the NFV environment 100, and fault management of VNFs in the NFV environment 100.

FIG. 2 illustrates a call flow diagram 200 showing how the system 102 deploys the VNF 108 in the NFV environment according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. At step 202, the NFV orchestrator 104 receives a request from the client computing device 106 for deploying the VNF 108. Thereafter at step 204, the NFV orchestrator 104 validates the request. For example, the NFV orchestrator 104 may validate the request by ensuring the client computing device 106 is authorized to request deployment of the VNF 108 and/or a type of the VNF 108 requested by the client computing device 106. The NFV orchestrator 104 may also check the feasibility of the VNF deployment at step 206. For example, the NFV orchestrator 104 may check the request against one or more rules or policies to ensure that the VNF 108 and/or characteristics of the VNF 108 are supported by the NFV environment 100.

At step 208, the NFV orchestrator 104 transmits a request to the VNF manager 118 to deploy the VNF 108. In turn, the VNF manager responds by validating the request at step 210. For example, the VNF manager 118 may validate the request by ensuring sufficient resource capacity exist for fulfilling the request, and/or that the NFV environment possesses the capabilities for deploying the VNF 108 using certain parameters to be associated with the VNF 108 included in the request. When the request is validated at step 210, the VNF manager 118 transmits a response to the request back to the NFV orchestrator 104 requesting that certain resources 114 be allocated for supporting the VNF 108.

At step 214, the NFV orchestrator 104 performs one or more pre-allocation processing for deploying the VNF 108. For example, the NFV orchestrator 104 may update records stored in its memory indicating certain characteristics of the VNF 108, such as information associated with the user who issued the request through the client computing device 106, accounting information (e.g., lease information) to be assessed to the user for use of the VNF 108, and the like. According to some embodiments, the NFV orchestrator may also store identifying information for the resources 114 so that they may be dedicated for use with the VNF 108.

Thereafter at step 216, the NFV orchestrator 104 transmits a request to the resource manager 116 to allocate one or more resources 114 for the VNF 108. In turn, the resource manager 116 allocates its internal connectivity network at step 218 to support the resources 114. For example, the resource manager 116 may deploy and configure one or more virtual network resources 114 (e.g., a load balancer, a router, etc.) that are to be used by certain other resources 114 for supporting the VNF 108. Thereafter at step 220, the resource manager 116 allocates the other resources 114 (e.g., VMs) and attaches the resources 114 to the network configured at step 218. The resource manager 116 then transmits an acknowledgement message back to the NFV orchestrator 104 in response to the request transmitted at step 216 indicating that the resources 114 of the NFV environment 100 have been allocated to support the VNF 108 at step 222.

At step 224, the NFV orchestrator 104 transmits an acknowledgement message back to the VNF manager 118 indicating that the resources 114 of the NFV environment 100 have been successfully allocated. As a result, the VNF manager 118 configures the VNF 108 with deployment specific parameters (e.g., port assignments, routing tables, routing rules, etc.). For example, the VNF manager 118 may communicate with certain resources 114 configured by the resource manager 116 in steps 218 and 220 with additional parameters necessary for implementing the VNF 108. The VNF manager 118 also notifies the VNF element manager 120 that the VNF has been successfully deployed at step 228. Thereafter at step 230, the VNF element manager 120 configures the newly deployed VNF 108 with any particular parameters obtained from the VNF manager 118 at step 230.

At step 232, the VNF manager 118 transmits an acknowledgement message to the NFV orchestrator 104 indicating that the VNF 108 has been successfully deployed in which the NFV orchestrator 104 responds by transmitting an acknowledgement message to the client computing device 106 with the indication at step 234.

At this point, the VNF 108 has been deployed and is available for use by the user of the client computing device 106.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example call flow diagram 300 that may be performed by the system 102 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Initially, the VNF 108 has been previously deployed in the NFV environment 100. For example, the steps of the call flow diagram 300 may be performed after the steps of 202-234 have been performed as shown and described above with respect to FIG. 2.

At step 302, the NFV orchestrator 104 receives a request from the client computing device 106 to un-deploy (e.g., terminate) the VNF 108. Thereafter at step 304, the NFV orchestrator 104 validates the request. For example, the NFV orchestrator 104 may validate the request by ensuring the client computing device 106 is authorized to request un-deployment of the VNF 108. At step 306, the NFV orchestrator 104 transmits a request to the VNF manager 118 to un-deploy the VNF 108, in which the VNF manager 118 responds by un-deploying the VNF 108 at step 308. The VNF manager 118 then transmits an acknowledgement message to the NFV orchestrator 104 indicating that the VNF 108 has been successfully un-deployed from the NFV environment 100 at step 310.

At this point, the VNF 108 has been un-deployed from the NFV environment 100, while the resources 114 remain allocated for use with the VNF 108. For example, although the VNF 108 has been un-deployed at step 310, information associated with the resources 114 used to support the VNF 108 that has been stored at step 214 (See FIG. 2) remains persistent in the NFV orchestrator 104. Thus, the VNF 108 can be re-deployed on those same resources 114 using information stored in the NFV orchestrator 104. In one aspect, the resources 114 remain allocated to the VNF 108 because the resource manager 116 has not yet been notified that the underlying resources 114 used to support the VNF 108 has been un-deployed. Thus, the resource manager 116 receives no request to de-allocate the resources 114 used to support the VNF 108 and therefore does not de-allocated those resources 114. Additionally, because the resources 114 remain allocated for use with the VNF 108, other VNFs are restricted from using those resources 114.

At step 312, the NFV orchestrator 104 again deploys the VNF 108 using the resources 114 that have been previously allocated. In some embodiments, the system 102 may deploy the VNF 108 in a similar manner that the VNF 108 was deployed in steps 202-212 and 224-234 of FIG. 2. However, rather than performing the one or more pre-allocation processing for deploying the VNF 108 as is performed in step 214, the NFV orchestrator 104 obtains a unique identity of the VNF 108 being deployed, identifies the resources 114 that have been previously allocated to that VNF 108 according to information about the resources 114 stored in its memory, and selects those resources 114 to be used for supporting the VNF 108. At this point, the VNF 108 is now fully deployed again using the resources 114 that have been previously allocated for that VNF 108.

At some later point in time, it may be desired to un-deploy the VNF 108. Therefore, at step 314, the NFV orchestrator 104 may un-deploy the VNF 108 that has been deployed at step 312. For example, the system 102 may un-deploy the VNF 108 in a similar manner that the VNF 108 was un-deployed in steps 302-310. At this point, the VNF 108 has been un-deployed, but the resources 114 used to support the VNF 108 are still allocated for use with that VNF 108. Thus, the VNF 108 may again be deployed by performing step 312 again, or the resources 114 used to support the VNF 108 may be de-allocated so that those resources 114 may be added to the common pool to be used by other VNFs as described herein below at steps 316-324.

At step 316, the NFV orchestrator 104 transmits a request to the resource manager 116 to de-allocate the resources 114 used to support the VNF 108. In turn, the resource manager 116 de-allocates its internal connectivity network at step 318. For example, the resource manager 116 may delete the one or more previously allocated virtual network resources 114 (e.g., load balancers, routers, switches, etc.) that were allocated at step 218. Thereafter at step 320, the resource manager 116 de-allocates the resources 114 (e.g., VMs) allocated at step 220. The resource manager 116 then transmits an acknowledgement message back to the NFV orchestrator 104 indicating that the resources 114 have been de-allocated at step 322. Upon receipt of the acknowledgement message, the NFV orchestrator 104 then transmits an acknowledgement message to the client computing device 106 with the indication at step 324. At this point, the resources 114 have been de-allocated and are returned to the resource pool to be used to support the deployment of another VNF 108 by the system.

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate an example main user interface screen 400 and a VNF management user interface screen 410, respectively, that may be generated on the client computing device 106 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The main user interface screen 400 generally displays one or more icons 402 each representing an individual deployed VNF 108 in the system 102. For example, icon 402 a may represent a first VNF 108 deployed in the NFV environment 100, icon 402 b may represent a second VNF 108 deployed in the NFV environment 100, while icon 402 c may represent a third VNF 108 deployed in the NFV environment 100. In a particular example, the VNFs 108 associated with the icons 402 may be generated by the NFV orchestrator 104 when steps 202-234 of FIG. 2 for each VNF 108 have been successfully completed.

The main user interface 400 provides for receiving user input for deploying, un-deploying, modifying, and/or monitoring VNFs 108 in the NFV environment. For example, the main user interface screen 400 may receive user input for performing steps 302-324 for un-deploying the VNF 108 and de-allocating its associated resources 114. The main user interface screen 400 also displays an un-deployment icon 404 that allows the user to un-deploy the VNFs 108 associated with each of the icons 402 shown in the main user interface 400 without de-allocating its underlying resources 114. For example, to un-deploy one of the VNFs 108 without de-allocating its resources 114, one or more of the icons 402 may be selected followed by selection of the un-deployment icon 404. In response to selection of the un-deployment icon 404, the system 102 may generate the VNF management user interface screen 410 as shown in FIG. 4B.

The VNF management user interface screen 410 displays a detailed list of certain parameters associated with each of the icons 402 displayed in the main user interface screen 400. The management user interface screen 410 may display an indication of the VNFs 108 in rows 412 in which certain parameters of each VNF 108 is displayed in columns 414. As shown, the VNF management user interface screen 410 displays a name of the VNF 108 in a column 414 b, a number of CPUs allocated to the VNF 108 in column 414 c, an amount of volatile memory allocated to the VNF 108 in column 414 d, and amount of persistent storage (e.g., hard disk storage) allocated to the VNF 108 in column 414 e. Although a VNF name, a number of CPUs, an amount of volatile memory, and an amount of persistent storage are shown, it should be appreciated that any parameter may be displayed in the VNF management user interface screen 410 without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

The VNF management user interface screen 410 also includes a column 414 a having a selectable field in each row 412 along with a ‘Release’ button 416 and a ‘Restore’ button 418 that can be used to un-deploy or re-deploy its associated VNF 108 without unallocating its underlying resources 114. For example, by receiving selection of a field in a row of a particular VNF, followed by selection of the ‘Release’ button 416, the system 102 may perform steps 302-310 of FIG. 3 to un-deploy that particular VNF 108 without de-allocating its underlying resources 114. Conversely, the system 102 may receive selection of a field in a row of the particular VNF, followed by selection of the ‘Restore’ button 418 to perform steps 224-234 of FIG. 2 for re-deploying the VNF 108 onto the resources 114 again.

Although FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate example screens that may be used for receiving user input to un-deploy and re-deploy on resources 114 without de-allocating those resources 114, the system 102 may include additional, fewer, or different entry screens without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. For example, the system may include one or more other screens for facilitating display of information to the customer, and/or received user input from the customer for other operations to be performed on the VNFs 108.

FIG. 5 illustrates several basic hardware components that can apply to system examples of the present disclosure. For example, the NFV orchestrator 104, the VNF manager 118, the client computing device 106, the resource manager 116, the VNF element manager 120, and/or the physical resources 114 of the VNF environment 100 may include certain hardware components as described herein.

With reference to FIG. 5, an exemplary system and/or computing device 500 includes a processing unit (CPU or processor) 510 and a system bus 505 that couples various system components including the system memory 515 such as read only memory (ROM) 520 and random access memory (RAM) 525 to the processor 510. The system 502 can include a cache 512 of high-speed memory connected directly with, in close proximity to, or integrated as part of the processor 510. The system 502 copies data from the memory 515, 520, and/or 525 and/or the storage device 530 to the cache 512 for quick access by the processor 510. In this way, the cache provides a performance boost that avoids processor 510 delays while waiting for data. These and other modules can control or be configured to control the processor 510 to perform various operations or actions. Other system memory 515 may be available for use as well. The memory 515 can include multiple different types of memory with different performance characteristics. It can be appreciated that the disclosure may operate on a computing device 500 with more than one processor 510 or on a group or cluster of computing devices networked together to provide greater processing capability. The processor 510 can include any general purpose processor and a hardware module or software module, such as module 1 532, module 2 534, and module 3 536 stored in storage device 530, configured to control the processor 510 as well as a special-purpose processor where software instructions are incorporated into the processor. The processor 510 may be a self-contained computing system, containing multiple cores or processors, a bus, memory controller, cache, etc. A multi-core processor may be symmetric or asymmetric. The processor 510 can include multiple processors, such as a system having multiple, physically separate processors in different sockets, or a system having multiple processor cores on a single physical chip. Similarly, the processor 510 can include multiple distributed processors located in multiple separate computing devices, but working together such as via a communications network. Multiple processors or processor cores can share resources such as memory 515 or the cache 512, or can operate using independent resources. The processor 510 can include one or more of a state machine, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or a programmable gate array (PGA) including a field PGA.

The system bus 505 may be any of several types of bus structures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. A basic input/output system (BIOS) stored in ROM 520 or the like, may provide the basic routine that helps to transfer information between elements within the computing device 500, such as during start-up. The computing device 500 further includes storage devices 530 or computer-readable storage media such as a hard disk drive, a magnetic disk drive, an optical disk drive, tape drive, solid-state drive, RAM drive, removable storage devices, a redundant array of inexpensive disks (RAID), hybrid storage device, or the like. The storage device 530 is connected to the system bus 505 by a drive interface. The drives and the associated computer-readable storage devices provide nonvolatile storage of computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules and other data for the computing device 500. In one aspect, a hardware module that performs a particular function includes the software component stored in a tangible computer-readable storage device in connection with the necessary hardware components, such as the processor 510, bus 505, an output device such as a display 535, and so forth, to carry out a particular function. In another aspect, the system can use a processor and computer-readable storage device to store instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations, a method or other specific actions. The basic components and appropriate variations can be modified depending on the type of device, such as whether the computing device 500 is a small, handheld computing device, a desktop computer, or a computer server. When the processor 510 executes instructions to perform “operations”, the processor 510 can perform the operations directly and/or facilitate, direct, or cooperate with another device or component to perform the operations.

Although the exemplary embodiment(s) described herein employs a storage device such as a hard disk 530, other types of computer-readable storage devices which can store data that are accessible by a computer, such as magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, digital versatile disks (DVDs), cartridges, random access memories (RAMs) 525, read only memory (ROM) 520, a cable containing a bit stream and the like, may also be used in the exemplary operating environment. According to this disclosure, tangible computer-readable storage media, computer-readable storage devices, computer-readable storage media, and computer-readable memory devices, expressly exclude media such as transitory waves, energy, carrier signals, electromagnetic waves, and signals per se.

To enable user interaction with the computing device 500, an input device 545 represents any number of input mechanisms, such as a microphone for speech, a touch-sensitive screen for gesture or graphical input, keyboard, mouse, motion input, speech and so forth. An output device 535 can also be one or more of a number of output mechanisms known to those of skill in the art. In some instances, multimodal systems enable a user to provide multiple types of input to communicate with the computing device 500. The communications interface 540 generally governs and manages the user input and system output. There is no restriction on operating on any particular hardware arrangement and therefore the basic hardware depicted may easily be substituted for improved hardware or firmware arrangements as they are developed.

For clarity of explanation, the illustrative system embodiment is presented as including individual functional blocks including functional blocks labeled as a “processor” or processor 510. The functions these blocks represent may be provided through the use of either shared or dedicated hardware, including, but not limited to, hardware capable of executing software and hardware, such as a processor 510, that is purpose-built to operate as an equivalent to software executing on a general purpose processor. For example, the functions of one or more processors presented in FIG. 5 can be provided by a single shared processor or multiple processors. (Use of the term “processor” should not be construed to refer exclusively to hardware capable of executing software.) Illustrative embodiments may include microprocessor and/or digital signal processor (DSP) hardware, read-only memory (ROM) 520 for storing software performing the operations described below, and random access memory (RAM) 525 for storing results. Very large scale integration (VLSI) hardware embodiments, as well as custom VLSI circuitry in combination with a general purpose DSP circuit, may also be provided.

The logical operations of the various embodiments are implemented as: (1) a sequence of computer implemented steps, operations, or procedures running on a programmable circuit within a general use computer, (2) a sequence of computer implemented steps, operations, or procedures running on a specific-use programmable circuit; and/or (3) interconnected machine modules or program engines within the programmable circuits. The system 502 shown in FIG. 5 can practice all or part of the recited methods, can be a part of the recited systems, and/or can operate according to instructions in the recited tangible computer-readable storage devices. Such logical operations can be implemented as modules configured to control the processor 510 to perform particular functions according to the programming of the module. For example, FIG. 5 illustrates three modules Mod1 532, Mod2 534 and Mod3 536 which are modules configured to control the processor 510. These modules may be stored on the storage device 530 and loaded into RAM 525 or memory 515 at runtime or may be stored in other computer-readable memory locations.

One or more parts of the example computing device 500, up to and including the entire computing device 500, can be virtualized. For example, a virtual processor can be a software object that executes according to a particular instruction set, even when a physical processor of the same type as the virtual processor is unavailable. A virtualization layer or a virtual “host” can enable virtualized components of one or more different computing devices or device types by translating virtualized operations to actual operations. Ultimately however, virtualized hardware of every type is implemented or executed by some underlying physical hardware. Thus, a virtualization compute layer can operate on top of a physical compute layer. The virtualization compute layer can include one or more of a virtual machine, an overlay network, a hypervisor, virtual switching, and any other virtualization application.

The processor 510 can include all types of processors disclosed herein, including a virtual processor. However, when referring to a virtual processor, the processor 510 includes the software components associated with executing the virtual processor in a virtualization layer and underlying hardware necessary to execute the virtualization layer. The system 502 can include a physical or virtual processor 510 that receive instructions stored in a computer-readable storage device, which cause the processor 510 to perform certain operations. When referring to a virtual processor 510, the system also includes the underlying physical hardware executing the virtual processor 510.

The various aspects disclosed herein can be implemented as hardware, firmware, and/or software logic embodied in a tangible, i.e., non-transitory, medium that, when executed, is operable to perform the various methods and processes described above. That is, the logic may be embodied as physical arrangements, modules, or components. A tangible medium may be substantially any computer-readable medium that is capable of storing logic or computer program code which may be executed, e.g., by a processor or an overall computing system, to perform methods and functions associated with the examples. Such computer-readable mediums may include, but are not limited to including, physical storage and/or memory devices. Executable logic may include, but is not limited to including, code devices, computer program code, and/or executable computer commands or instructions.

It should be appreciated that a computer-readable medium, computer-readable storage device, or a machine-readable medium excludes signals or signals embodied in carrier waves.

It is believed that the present disclosure and many of its attendant advantages will be understood by the foregoing description, and it will be apparent that various changes may be made in the form, construction, and arrangement of the components without departing from the disclosed subject matter or without sacrificing all of its material advantages. The form described is merely explanatory, and it is the intention of the following claims to encompass and include such changes.

While the present disclosure has been described with reference to various embodiments, it will be understood that these embodiments are illustrative and that the scope of the disclosure is not limited to them. Many variations, modifications, additions, and improvements are possible. More generally, embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure have been described in the context of particular implementations. Functionality may be separated or combined in blocks differently in various embodiments of the disclosure or described with different terminology. These and other variations, modifications, additions, and improvements may fall within the scope of the disclosure as defined in the claims that follow. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A virtual network function (VNF) management system comprising: at least one non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon that when executed are effective to cause at least one processor to: deploy a VNF using one or more resources allocated for use by the VNF, the one or more resources being allocated by communicating with a resource manager that manages the one or more resources; receive a request from a user interface to un-deploy the VNF; un-deploy the VNF while keeping the resources allocated for use by the VNF; receive a request to restore the VNF from the user interface; and deploy the VNF again using the allocated resources.
 2. The VNF management system of claim 1, wherein the instructions are further executed to display a user interface on a display of a client computing device, the user interface executed to receive user input to un-deploy the VNF, and display information associated with the resources that have been dedicated for use with the VNF when the VNF is un-deployed.
 3. The VNF management system of claim 2, wherein the user interface is further executed to receive user input for de-allocating the resources such that the resources are no longer dedicated for use with the VNF when the VNF is un-deployed from the resources.
 4. The VNF management system of claim 2, wherein the instructions are further executed to deploy the VNF again.
 5. The VNF management system of claim 1, wherein the user interface comprises a portion of a NFV orchestrator, wherein information associated with the resources are stored in a memory managed by the NFV orchestrator.
 6. The VNF management system of claim 1, wherein the instructions are further executed to allocate the resources and deploy the VNF according to a European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) Industry Specification Group (ISG) for Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) working group specification.
 7. The VNF management system of claim 6, wherein the instructions are further executed to not notify the resource manager that the VNF has been un-deployed, wherein ETSI/ISG/NFV working group specification specifies notifying the resource manager when the VNF has been un-deployed.
 8. A virtual network function (VNF) management method comprising: deploying, by at least one processor that executes instructions stored in at least one memory, a VNF using one or more resources allocated for use by the VNF, the one or more resources being allocated by communicating with a resource manager that manages the one or more resources; receiving, using the instructions, a request from a user interface to un-deploy the VNF; un-deploying, using the instructions, the VNF while keeping the resources allocated for use by the VNF; receiving, using the instructions, a request to restore the VNF from the user interface; and deploying, using the instructions, the VNF again using the allocated resources.
 9. The VNF management method of claim 8, further comprising displaying a user interface on a display of a client computing device, the user interface receiving user input to un-deploy the VNF, and displaying information associated with the resources that have been dedicated for use with the VNF when the VNF is un-deployed.
 10. The VNF management method of claim 9, further comprising receiving, by the user interface, user input for de-allocating the resources such that the resources are no longer dedicated for use with the VNF when the VNF is un-deployed from the resources.
 11. The VNF management method of claim 9, further comprising deploying the VNF again.
 12. The VNF management method of claim 8, wherein the user interface comprises a portion of a NFV orchestrator, wherein information associated with the resources are stored in a memory managed by the NFV orchestrator.
 13. The VNF management method of claim 8, further comprising allocating the resources and deploy the VNF according to a European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) Industry Specification Group (ISG) for Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) working group specification.
 14. The VNF management system of claim 13, further comprising not notifying the resource manager that the VNF has been un-deployed, wherein ETSI/ISG/NFV working group specification specifies notifying the resource manager when the VNF has been un-deployed.
 15. A computer-readable storage device storing instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising: deploying a VNF using one or more resources allocated for use by the VNF, the one or more resources being allocated by communicating with a resource manager that manages the one or more resources; receiving a request from a user interface to un-deploy the VNF; un-deploying the VNF while keeping the resources allocated for use by the VNF; receiving a request to restore the VNF from the user interface; and deploying the VNF again using the allocated resources.
 16. The instructions of claim 15, further comprising displaying a user interface on a display of a client computing device, the user interface receiving user input to un-deploy the VNF, and displaying information associated with the resources that have been dedicated for use with the VNF when the VNF is un-deployed.
 17. The instructions of claim 16, further comprising receiving, by the user interface, user input for de-allocating the resources such that the resources are no longer dedicated for use with the VNF when the VNF is un-deployed from the resources.
 18. The instructions of claim 16, further comprising deploying the VNF again.
 19. The instructions of claim 15, wherein the user interface comprises a portion of a NFV orchestrator, wherein information associated with the resources are stored in a memory managed by the NFV orchestrator.
 20. The instructions of claim 15, further comprising allocating the resources and deploy the VNF according to a European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) Industry Specification Group (ISG) for Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) working group specification, and not notifying the resource manager that the VNF has been un-deployed, wherein ETSI/ISG/NFV working group specification specifies notifying the resource manager when the VNF has been un-deployed. 